So with the soon purchase of my new wake boat, Im not going to lie I am scared to death to put it in the water I normally ride in which is 15-20min away from my house due to it being brakish. The salinity is anywhere from 9ppt - 12ppt where I normally ride. Though I am meticulous about maintenance. The whole boat/trailer/interior/exterior get washed each and every use. The engine is flushed for 20minutes with freshwater and saltaway. The whole boat and trailer then get sprayed down with salt-away and then the whole boat is dried.

The nearest freshwater lake to me is 1hour doorstep to boat ramp. I just dont know how realistic it is to drive 2 hours (back and fourth) every saturday and sunday. That hour drive also reduces my riding time because I normally try and do a dusk session on monday and friday after work, but no way ill be able to make that hapen if I have an 2 hour round trip drive.

Hearing some of the horror stories of salt, im really getting steered away from a new boat.

Im not too worried about the hour... My commute to work is 1.5hr each way... I have a hard enough time as it is getting people up before 8 to hit the water... I wake up every morning at 5, so if I sleep til 530-6 its sleeping in and thats when i want to hit the water. Anyone who rides with me is like pulling teeth getting them on the water by 10-11. The big lake here gets wild on the weekends as well, so boarding can be limited. I googled some other ramps on the lake and the closest one mapquest says is 1hr5min... so in reality thats probably only 45-50 minutes

But still I would miss my nice quick 2hr sessions on monday night or friday night after work if I chose to only run in the lake

I can be in the water in 20 mins at he closet lake its small but does the trick for a few hours. If i go out all day its 1.5 to one or 40 to another. the bigger lake is longer to get too but I usually choose it 9 out of 10 times.

I understand the drive time, but think about how much less time you would need to spend cleaning and flushing. If you're driving 1.5 hours to and from work, I am assuming the fresh water lake must be in the opposite direction for the hour drive to be an issue? If not, take your boat to work and tell your buddies to meet you at the ramp at 5:30. Then after riding they can follow you home to help clean and put the boat away.

I know what you're saying about the challenge of getting people up in the morning to ride. Our water is good on weekends from 5:30, or when it's light enough to see, to about 8am. After that, the go-fast boats, Waverunners and tubers come out and the water is crap for the rest of the day.

haha some of you have it good... Luckly I still rent a house and my lease is up in Dec so Im thinking about renting on the lake.. Would be 1 hour closer to snowmobile country and minutes away from freshwater.

unfortunately I work in NYC so no where close by to drive a truck and trailer to. Regardless the lake is west of my job so its still another hour west and then an hour home.

Regardless of salt or not the boat is still getting detailed daily. It takes me and a buddy 25-30min to detail the whole boat and flush the engine. I have a pretty good system. House the boat/truck/trailer down then hook up the hose to the engine and flush. Clean interior, exterior, scrub the trailer, and gear. Spray the exterior down. I hope on the inside and clean the inside while someone dries the exterior. Turn off the engine and spray down the interior. Dry the interior, hang up the boards and gear and inside for beer and bbq! Next morning when Im waiting for all the bums to wake up I spray protectant on the interior

When I lived in CA an hour drive to the lake was pretty average and honestly not that bad. The road trip there was always fun and blaring loud music and laughs as everyones always stoked to ride. The ride home sucks because everyone's tired and just wants to be home or they're buzzed and sleeping lol. Either way it's a small price to pay to preserve your boat and protect your investment. Once it hits salt water thats that and no matter who you try and sell it to they will work you down if the boat shows salt wear. Just make the extra 40 minute drive and think of all the extra money you'll get back when you resell your boat.

I've considered relocating so i could make more money at my job. But cant find another place/city that has a job like this 20 mins from my house where i have a boat 2 mins away ready to go. Currently it would take a hefty raise to uproot this situation.

Rob, If you split your trips between your close brackish lake and the fresh water lake, then you will be limiting the exposure to brackish water and increasing riding time. so your monday and or friday evening rides, use the close lake, but on weekends, go to the freshwater lake. If you flush and clean like you say you do and get a galvanized trailer, then you should have no problem running your boat in brackish for one season, then move.

3 hours to the lake where the boat is stored. We can only do weekend trips, but at least the lake does not get that crowded. The closest lake is about 2 hours, but it is miserable in my opinion. I envy you guys who have lake houses or even much shorter trips.

all you guys with the hour drive, how early are you hitting the lake? I have no problem heading out at 530am but all my buddies have that problem. 8am be on water at 9am is more realistic but i just hate how trashed the lakes get by that time

the lake i live close to is small so by 11 or 12 its trashed and you cant board till 930 am. If its windy half the lake is trashed. When I drive to the farther lake thats 1.5 hr away its toast by 11 or 12 also. I live in between akron and canton oh so there is not a lot of options.

I live 5 minutes from one boat ramp, 7 minutes from the other - both ramps on Old Hickory lake. We trailer our boat and keep the boat at the house = no storage expense and ability to travel to two other lakes nearby. I can be at Percy Priest lake across town in 20 minutes. Then I have a beautiful, deep water Center Hill lake 50 minutes drive away. I love Nashville TN for that fact.

I understand your concern of dipping a new boat in saltwater. Salt/brackish water is something I've never had to deal with but I've seen pictures of what it can do to boats, that are even maintained well. If the freshwater lake you travel to has a storage facility nearby and a campground, have you considered getting a $5-$7k camper/travel trailer? You could roll out on Fridays after work with boat in tow to the storage facility, drop boat, tow camper to camp and setup, then go get the boat, launch boat in the water and your set for the weekend. Your friends could drive up to meet you anytime they wanted, or stay overnight in the camper if there was enough room. With your boat being at your house you get the option to occasionally run in the brackish, but also spend weekends in the freshwater.

Im waying all options out. Basically I have freshwater in 2 directions one north west and the other south west. Both great riding spots. Lots of good points have been brought up though. I travel about 40min back and forth now plus 30min cleaning. Whats the extra 20min each way and Im saving a little on cleaning time as in fresh I can just dry off spray down with boat candy and dry again. Im pretty much fine with it. I have a Diesel f250 so Im not too worried about towing a 3400lb boat an hour either.

Seems like most of you have the 45min to 1 hour drive also and its not a big deal. So is what it is.

I'm 55 miles from the lake that I belong to which takes about an hour. Luckily I can leave my boat at the lake so I don't always have to trailer it back and forth. Before I joined this lake, we used to boat on a public lake that was also an hour away and did it several times a week but trailering the boat with us. It's a pain but if you are committed and enjoy it, you will make it work IMO.

Pretty sure I'm going to hate everyone by the end of this thread. 3 hours drive from my home to caravan, then another 20 minutes drive to the boat, and another 10 to the lake. After we've launched, then its 30 minutes across a lake that's usually rough, occasionally white horses, to ride-able water. All in all its about 4 hours from home to riding

I wish I could find the same paying job down in Northern Oklahoma that I could be 15 minutes from a big lake. Im in Wichita, KS so its 45 minutes to the closest lake and I dont get home from work til 6 pm working 10 hour days. On Friday night we drive an hour and 45 minutes down to Oklahoma where our camper is set up a half mile from the boat ramp. Where only weekend warriors which sucks.

In KY I'm 15 minutes to the Ohio River, which i feel the same way about it as you do the brackish water......I have no idea what the hell is in there and probably glow when you get out. At least its not corrosive. We are a minimum 1:20 minutes to any of 3 lakes. I make the trip Saturday and Sunday. We have a house at one lake and friends with houses at others. It makes the trip worthwhile.

I lived in SW FL, I had a few boats and the salt really took its tole. I was religious about flushing and cleaning but it is so hard on a boat. Outboards aren't nearly as bad, but inboards are another story.

I am 5 minutes from our closest lake and about 40 minutes from the "nice" lake. I have a new crew with no previous boating experience so we used the local lake last year. To me the extra 35 minutes is nothing and they now agree.

I dragged my normal local crew up to the lake this weekend and they all agreed it was well worth the trip, despite the fact the water was an ocean by 1030 or so. But being able to anchor up in the coves, party, layout in fresh clean water and the quick detail and dry of the boat was well worth it compared to being in the brakish river, the big clean up of the boat afterwards etc....